The invention relates to a vehicle interior air conditioning device that exhibits a vehicle fan, for example, the vehicle's own ventilation device, an operating device for an openable and closable vehicle opening (roof opening, window opening, etc.) which has a control circuit that triggers the operating device when a predetermined temperature threshold value inside the vehicle is exceeded and when outside humidity is not detected by an outside humidity sensor, and a heater that can be operated independently of the engine and that has a fan.
An automatic ventilation system for a closed space, such as a vehicle interior, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,469, in which one or more ventilation devices are provided. Depending on an interior temperature sensor and an outside humidity sensor, such as a rain sensor, the ventilation devices, such as a window, sliding roof or convertible top, are triggered by a control device so that, when exceeding of a predetermined temperature threshold value inside the vehicle is detected with the help of the interior temperature sensor, and when it is determined by the outside humidity sensor that no rain is falling, the ventilation devices are triggered and activated, and, for example, the sliding roof and/or the window are opened. This prior art thus concerns itself exclusively with ventilation of the vehicle interior.
Further, there are heaters that can be operated independently of the engine, that can be installed in a vehicle, and that have their own fan and control device, by which the vehicle interior, if required, can be heated independently of the operation of the internal combustion engine of the vehicle. Such heaters that can be operated independently of the engine represent self-contained units that are used additionally or exclusively for heating purposes if required, for instance when the vehicle engine is not in operation, or didn't yet warm up the cooling liquid sufficiently.
Previously, vehicle ventilation systems and heaters that can be operated independently of the engine were operated by separate controls that had to be activated manually by an operator. Although, control systems for heaters (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,064) and ventilation systems (see, commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/729,380) are known by which operation can be initiated in dependence on ambient conditions and/or time parameters, engine-independent heaters and ventilators have not been integrated into a vehicle interior climate control system that is not substantially dependent on manual actions of an operator.